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New Zealand Railways DA 1400

DA 1400 is probably the most significant survivor of her class, at least in my opinion. She was built by General Motors of Canada in June 1955, being the very first DA locomotive ever built. A further 145 of these engines would be built between 1955 and 1967.

Apart from minor modifications for New Zealand conditions, the DA was another version of the standard General Motors G12 model. The class was ordered by New Zealand Railways, who intended to use them to replace steam locomotives in the North Island. By 1967 the DA class had achieved that goal.

In order to guarantee a fast delivery, the DA’s were built to a slightly larger loading gauge. This meant that - initially - they could only run on the North Island Main Trunk (but not south of Paekakariki) as well as the lines to Rotorua and Tokoroa. They were also allowed to run on the old East Coast Main Trunk as far as Paeroa; the line through the Karangahake Gorge couldn’t handle the weight of a DA. As such, the DF and DB classes were used on the ECMT instead.

By 1967, the tunnels south of Paekakariki had been upgraded to enable the DA’s to run all the way to Wellington. From then on the class would go on to enjoy an even more successful career hauling passenger and freight trains in the North Island.

In 1971, six ‘Phase 1’ DA’s - including 1400 - were converted into heavy shunters and reclassified in the DAA subclass. These engines were fitted with slow-speed control and other modifications to make them suitable for their new role. In an aesthetic sense, the DAA’s received little changes apart from the white stripes being repainted yellow. This was to make it easier to tell the DAA apart from the regular DA. In the mid-1980’s the engines were superseded by the purpose-built DSG and DSJ shunters. Thankfully two DAA’s have been preserved.

1400 - by now renumbered to DAA 11 - was retired in 1983 and cosmetically restored back to her ‘DA 1400’ condition. She was donated to the Museum of Transport and Technology (MOTAT) in Auckland, and placed on static display alongside steam locomotive K 900 at their Great North Road site. DA 1400 and K 900 have since become MOTAT legends, in recognition of the many years they spent on display together. Sadly neither of them are at the Great North Road site anymore. In the case of DA 1400, she was moved to MOTAT’s Meola Road site in 2014, where she still resides today. Apart from occasional public appearances out in the open, she spends all of her time hidden away in a shed, but has engines like AB 832, WW 491 and K 900 to keep her company.